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You never read the short story for this? Damn, must've been a tough 3 years for you!

lol No, I have read all nine novels from Baka-tsuki, bought the official one when it came out, and have both mangas :P. I just feel weird watching an anime without knowing what they are talking about(but I do know the story good enough that I could). Youtube quality=

So its finally arrived. It was so akwards watching this episode and while I liked the episode just as much as any Haruhi episode before it, I felt that I wasn't excited enough while watching. I guess thats what a three year wait will do to you. Anyways its good to have Haruhi back.

This is probably the most central plot related episode on the entire series since it is reflected in at least three of the major plot lines. We get reintrodiced to all the SOS-dan members. Mikuru(BIG), lots of Mikuru(small), original flavor Yuki, loli Haruhi, but not really much for Itsuki.

Also "John Smith". I believe the responce to that was "That's a stupid name", but the subs may say differently.

The return of Haruhi was great. The music was superb.
The VAs sound different, but it's been three years.

The art style, however...
It really can't be that hard to return to the animation style of S1, could it? I found it hard to enjoy the new way of drawing. One of the best things I liked about Haruhi was how fluid the animation ran. I do love the characters, but I think that the "new style" only works well with Mikuru.
The lack of connected lines and small discrepancies added up to a bother for me.

I suppose I'm being a bit harsh. But Haruhi-sama NEVER fails us.
The episode in all, was wonderful. Simply wonderful.

Waiting three years to air this episode. That's a witty thing that Kadokawa did. Except for the waiting-for-three-years-by-the-fans part.

The art style, however...
It really can't be that hard to return to the animation style of S1, could it? I found it hard to enjoy the new way of drawing. One of the best things I liked about Haruhi was how fluid the animation ran. I do love the characters, but I think that the "new style" only works well with Mikuru.
The lack of connected lines and small discrepancies added up to a bother for me.

Actually, despite my earlier bitching, it's really not that different. (They still have the gorgeous eye design, which I love.)

Also they lost like a third of their good animators when Yamakan left, I recall.